Brother Hubbard, Ranelagh: From Empty Unit to Café and Kitchen Fit-Out

Brother Hubbard is one of Dublin’s best known cafés, and when they took on an empty unit in Ranelagh, PP Construction carried out the complete fit-out: a bare shell turned into a modern, vibrant coffee shop at the front, with a full working kitchen at the back.

Starting from an empty unit

The starting point was an empty shell with nothing in it that could be reused. That is a very different job from a refurbishment: every wall finish, floor, ceiling, service and piece of joinery had to be planned and built from scratch, and the kitchen at the back had to be ready for a busy food operation from the first day of trading.

A café like this lives or dies on the detail people never notice. The counter has to work for the baristas, the seating has to make the most of a narrow room, and the lighting has to feel warm at eight in the morning and at eight in the evening.

The shopfront

Front of house

The finished café runs the full depth of the unit. A long terrazzo counter takes the coffee machine, grinders and the till, with timber shelving and cabinets behind it for crockery and glassware. Bar-height seating sits at the front window, a banquette runs down one wall with tables along it, and an arched niche and a curved counter end soften the long, straight room.

Overhead, woven rattan pendants and paper globe lanterns do most of the work, backed up by discreet downlights and wall lights. Dark timber flooring, warm plaster tones and plenty of planting finish it off. The result is a room that feels like it has always been there.

A full kitchen at the back

Behind the café is a full commercial kitchen. It is the part of the project customers never see, and the part that decides whether the business works: the layout, the services and the finishes all have to stand up to a full kitchen team working at pace every day. Getting it right at fit-out stage is far cheaper than fixing it once the doors are open.